HAMPDEN SOCIETY. 207 



The show of cattle was better than last year, but not so good 

 as it ought to be. Two town teams only were present, one of 

 twenty-six yokes from Eastharapton, and one of twenty from 

 South Hadley. There were nineteen entries of working oxen, 

 nine of bulls, seventeen of milch cows, nine of swine, and four 

 of sheep. The working oxen were superior, and the bulls 

 good. The exhibition of milch cows was better than usual, 

 and the show of swine was creditable to the society. Dr. 

 Bardwell of Whately, had a fine sow and pigs, and Hubbard 

 Graves of Sunderland exhibited a sow and eleven pigs. He 

 sold thirty dollars worth of pigs from the same sow last spring. 

 Ebenezer Clapp of Hatfield presented an excellent sow and 

 nine pigs. The sow had eighteen pigs, but nine of them had 

 died or been killed. 



The ploughing match took place on Wednesday afternoon. 

 Twenty-one teams entered the lists, only one of them an ox 

 team, and the competition was very spirited. 



Of horses, there were sixty-three entries. After the examina- 

 tion of the other description of horses, the merits of the draft 

 horses were tested. Four pairs only were submitted to the trial. 

 Each pair was required to take a wagon, loaded with between 

 fifty and sixty hundred weight of stone, down and up a hill, 

 stopping and starting again at a pretty sharp point in the hill in 

 going up. They all performed the task well. 



At the dinner table, Hon. William B. Calhoun, Secretary of 

 the Commonwealth, being introduced to the company, said that 

 he knew not any festival which could compare with the festi- 

 val of the farmer. It brought to our minds and our view the 

 simplicity and the beauties of nature, and carried us back to 

 that " higher law " which is above all that is human and arti- 

 ficial. He spoke of the pursuits of the farmer as peculiarly 

 favorable to high and noble contemplations. The farmer could 

 not be an atheist, he could not be ungrateful ; all his interests, 

 and all his prosperity, depended more immediately and mani- 

 festly than those of any other class of the community, upon 

 the Divine blessing; and there was no trade, or profession, or 

 class in society, that was not dependent upon the labors and the 

 prosperity of the farmer. 



